Factors Associated with Delayed Diagnosis of Cervical Cancer

Cervical cancer with an estimated 529,800 new cases worldwide is considered as one of the most common cancer among women worldwide. It constitutes approximately 8% of the global burden of cancer among women (Ferlay et al., 2010; Arbyn et al., 2011). More than 85% of the cases have reported in developing countries (Jemal et al., 2011). The estimated age-standardized incidence rate (ASR) of cervical cancer in Iran have reported to be 2.5 per 100,000 in pathology-based cancer registries and the mortality to incidence ratio was 42% according to a recent study in Iran (Khorasanizadeh et al., 2013). Cervical cancer is a curable and preventable disease if it diagnosed in the early stage of malignancy i.e at the precancerous stage (Devi et al., 2007). Whereas advanced stage of the disease has poor prognosis and is correlated with lower survival rates. Advanced cervical cancer is one of the major causes of cancer related mortality in women specially in lowand medium-income countries mostly due to poor access to appropriate management (Vinh-Hung et al., 2007; Thomson and Forman, 2009). Recently the concept of delayed diagnosis has become as an important issue in the cancer prevention and